Month: April 2018

Last Friday as I was reading Josh’s review of Rock Steady Row that was shown at the Chattanooga Film Festival (chattfilmfest.org, 5-8 April, Tennessee, USA) and before that at the Slamdance Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize, slamdance.com, 19-25 January, Utah, USA), it hit me that the same movie was about to open Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (2018.hoff.ee, 27-29 April, Estonia) here in Estonia. From America arrived the film director Trevor Stevens and the leading actor Heston Horwin to present Rock Steady Row at the international premiere in Europe. Both are young and unknown to the larger public, so another reason to talk about them here 🙂

From left to right: Heston Horwin, Maria Reinup (artistic director at HÕFF) and Trevor Stevens on 27 April in Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, Estonia. Photo courtesy of: https://www.facebook.com/hoffestival/.

Josh from https://clydeumney.wordpress.com saw Rock Steady Row at the Chattanooga Film Festival. The Chattanooga town with an American Indian sounding name is located in the state of Tennessee, USA, not far from Atlanta, Georgia (I googled to be sure :). Please read Josh’s review to know more about the movie. It seems to be quite a film regardless the low budget.

For the past several years, I’ve gone down to the Chattanooga Film Festival – it’s one of my favorite weekends for film every single year. (You can see my previous year write-ups since moving to this blog here.) A festival that’s in love with genre films, trash cinema, and embraces the weird and wild, CFF’s philosophy is that every film is worth watching in some way, and it’s an idea I can always get behind. This year, I managed to get back down there for all four days, which means there’s a lot to talk about. Let’s kick it off with the first day, which featured an entertaining low-budget effort and then hit me with the low point of the festival, if not my moviegoing year.

One of the great joys of walking into movies at CFF is the fact that it’s one of the only times I ever…

Charlize Theron at the Castro theater on 8th April 2018 at the San Francisco International Film Festival; Photo courtesy: dailymail.co.uk/WireImage

San Francisco International Film Festival ran from 4 – 17 April (sffilm.org). A Special Tribute was presented to a South African actress Charlize Theron who has shown time and time again her talent in playing many different characters. She was in San Francisco also for her newest movie premiere “Tully”.

San Francisco International Film Festival, also known as SFFILM, is a famous cultural event that unites filmmakers throughout the world. The festival champions the world’s best movies and filmmakers, whose works fall within the scope of its annual agenda. It usually takes place in April and is organized by a nonprofit organization. SFFIML unites over 100,000 film lovers and delivers media education programs to more than 10,000 students and teachers. It also supports career start of hundreds of independent filmmakers from the Bay Area by providing grants, residencies, and offering other film-related services. In the curse of the festival, one may definitely find a movie that would match his or her interests, as this year’s agenda is wide and comprehensive. This year the festival is scheduled for 4-17th April. It features the most creative films of filmmakers, who only start their career, or who shoot for specific audiences but share…

The 42nd Annual Hong Kong International Film Festival ran from March 19 to April 5. Howard Elias went there and tells us about what he saw. For more of his articles, please visit his website: https://howardforfilm.com.

The 42nd Annual Hong Kong International Film Festival is on now. This year’s event, which runs from March 19 to April 5, features over 230 films from 60 countries and regions, 63 of which are world, international or Asian premieres. There is also a master class with German director Warner Herzog along with the opportunity to watch more than 20 of his classics, and includes a sidebar of 10 restored classics, including Wim Wender’s WINGS OF DESIRE (1987), Jean-Luc Godard’s rarely seen THE RISE AND FALL OF A SMALL FILM COMPANY (1986), and Chinese director Shi Dongshan’s STRUGGLING (1932).

The annual industry trade show, Filmart, is on now too, so I’ve been busy watching some of the market screenings. Even so, I’ve still managed to fit in four festival films so far:

Into the Inferno

Warner Herzog’s latest film is a documentary that is less about volcanoes than it is…